A Final Request
by esotaria
Summary: A dying Cancerman makes one last request of his daughter.


A Final Request  
by Katie  
Disclaimer: The characters contained herein aren't mine. Minor spoilers for Requium and This Is Not Happening.  


XXX

  
Her steps were slow and unhurried as she walked down the hall, and they grew even slower as she neared the room. His room.  
  
She stopped outside his door, debating whether or not to enter. She was a grown woman, for heaven's sake, she could do what she wanted. But, as always, the voice of the father she both loved and hated called her forward, and she was helpless to resist. Sighing, she twisted the knob, and entered.  
  
He was sitting by the window, his back to the door. She took a moment to study him; the last time she had seen him was what, ten years ago? He had changed so much since then.  
  
" I see you decided to grace me with your presence," he said without turning around. " I knew you would. You always were a good girl."  
  
" Not that you would know," she said bitterly. " _Daddy._"  
  
He wheeled his chair around, seemingly oblivious to her words, and picked up a package of Morleys.  
  
" No thanks," she said as he silently offered one to her. " I'm trying to quit."  
  
Cancerman shrugged, taking one out for himself.  
  
" Good for you," he said. " Lord knows I never could. Are you using Nicorrete? I hear they've come out with an orange flavored gum. Silly, really. That stuff will probably become more addictive than cigarrettes themselves."  
  
" Get to the point, Daddy," the woman snapped. Cancerman arched an eyebrow, and took a puff of his cigarrette through his inhaler before continuing.  
  
" I'm dying," he said simply.  
  
" And?"  
  
" I need a favor."  
  
The woman snorted with disgust.  
  
" And you come to me?" she asked incredulously. " You're even more arrogant than I thought."  
  
" I'm glad we have that settled," Cancerman said. " But this favor is not for myself." He paused. " There are two agents whose lives I have been charged to protect. After I die, I obviously cannot do so. I wish for you to watch over them for me."  
  
It was the woman's turn to arch an eyebrow.  
  
" Why would I want to do that?" she asked. " Why would I want to do a favor for a man who couldn't even be bothered to make it home for my birthday, or even send a damn card?"  
  
" I'm sorry I was such a rotten father," Cancerman snapped, " but I protected you, your mother, and your brother. Isn't it enough that I defended you from Them?"  
  
The woman snorted derisively.  
  
" If there even is a 'Them'," she sneered.  
  
With astonishing speed Cancerman wheeled over, and cornered his daughter.  
  
" Doubt the existance of my heart," he growled. " Doubt the existance of my soul. Doubt the existance of any morals in me! But never, never doubt the existance of Them, or you'll be dead before you'll get a chance to regret it."  
  
Silence fell.  
  
" I've had enough of this sh*t," the woman growled. " Why did I even bother? I owe you nothing, Daddy. You abandoned us; left Mom to go chase after shadows. It'll be a cold day in Hell before that debt can ever be repaid." She pushed her way towards the door.  
  
" I would have given your mother the world, you know," Cancerman said softly. The woman stopped, and turned around.  
  
" She didn't want the world," she answered just as softly. " All she wanted was you."  
  
" And I would have been there," Cancerman said, " but I had a duty, a promise I made long before I met your mother. And a good soldier, whether on the battlefield or in the office, can never forsake his duty."  
  
" That's why police officers have the highest divorce rate in the country," the woman retorted bitterly, and once more turned to go.  
  
" I can't make you watch over them," Cancerman said. " In this condition, I can't make you do anything. But remember this. Of all the crimes I've commited, of every wrong I did you, Jeffery, and your mother, of all that, they are innocent. You may know them as 'Spooky and the Mrs.', but the Consortium knows them only as liabilities. Their deaths would shield our sin. Let not your hatred of me allow them to die, or you will truly be your father's daughter."  
  
The woman turned around, and her eyes locked with her father's. Then, without saying a word, she walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.  
  
She hated her father, heart and soul. He was a liar, a coward, and a cheat. He had abanoned their family just when they needed him the most. She refused to believe what he was saying, that Agents Mulder and Scully were innocents, that their lives had to be protected. It couldn't be true! Her mind knew he had to be lying, but something inside her, that part of her that sensed emotion, that part of her told her that her father spoke the truth, whether she liked it or not.  
  
And as she continued to walk down the hall, Agent Monica Reyes knew what her answer had to be.  


XXX  
Finis 


End file.
